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electoral college, armed guards will throw them out. i'm the president -- [bleep] i'm challenging all of it. [laughter] -- challenging all of it. violence. [inaudible conversations] >> shoot to kill. see an antifa, shoot to kill. howard: and the other networks kept replaying the footage of the veteran gop operative and donald trump pal. >> clear that in some sense roger stone was a go between. the actual election didn't matter to stone. the vote didn't matter. >> roger stone, some of his words are quite chilling. don't know how they'll hold up in court, but they do indicate a lot. howard: but then the hurricane forced the committee to cancel the hearing, rennering all this old news by the time the session is held later this month. i'm howard kurtz, and this is "mediabuzz." joining us now to analyze the

coverage in saratoga springs, new york, brian kilmeade, cohost of "fox & friends" weekend -- excuse me, cohost of "fox & friends" and host of "one nation with brian kilmeade." and in las vegas, laura fink, commentator and democratic strategist. brian, thanks for stopping by before you go off to see the popenies. what do you make of the -- ponies. what do you make of the roger stone video and the house committee's move of leaking it to the networks? >> unbelievable. a couple of things. roger stone was never an insider, he didn't last a few weeks with the trump campaign even though he was pushing trump to run really since 2008. what he said about a it being a deep fake is hard to believe. i'm not sophisticated must have to think that i could put together a deep fake, but it's clearly him making a bad decision and talking to a crew he knew nothing about and saying things that are totally irrational which he had no control over. i'm never going to sit here and defend roger stone and his antics including the decision to talk to a crew that a makes

absolutely no sense. but this is part of the tv show that the january 6th is putting together. they probably have seven hours or 17 or 70 hours of roger stone, okay, i need those 3 minutes, put that together. i need cassidy hutchen. son, i need this amount. they're putting together a tv show by a tv producer, and i think, howie, this country has changed dramatically since this january 6th committee got together. howard: right. >> no longer are we talking about crime, we're talking cataclysmic, possibly a nuclear attack in russia, and they keep going back to a horrific day in american history. but i'm not going to make excuses for roger stone -- howard: yeah. the deep fake thing is ridiculous because he has been cooperating and, look, he likes to be the center of attention. laura, this is a committee that puts out its scoops to the media, but, of course, it backfired when hurricane prompted a delay in the hearing, and by the time they get around to playing this, it's going to

feel like very old news. >> i think of casablanca, i'm shocked to find out there's gamble anything this establishment. [laughter] the number one goal of the january 6th committee is to document the facts. secondarily, they want to -- [inaudible conversations] so that we can persuade people that this should never happen again and so that we can prevent it. those goals were on full display this week, and i don't think it was ineffective i. i think it's a sign that the january 6th committee has more damning information yet to come as they reschedule this hearing. and i don't agree with mr. kill immediate that roger stone was not a trump insider. he absolutely was throughout the administration. and his calls for violence put those closer and closer to the president. so i think the substance of issue is more important than the structure of how it was released. howard: i think now that you've with made his television aa gain dance, you can call him brian. look, is the coverage overdone? it was constantly playing on a

loop on cnn and msnbc. and stone, who was pardoned by president trump for lying to congress about the russia investigation, has been in and out of favor. but what he says there does seem to reflect the whole let's push and push and push and try to hang on to power, the whole attitude about it. >> a couple of things, howie. number one, they are trying to tell a story, horrific day, i'm not going to make excuses for the speech, and i'm not going to talk about anything that says t not so bad. i think it was a horrific day so, please, don't take anything i say to minimize how horrible that day was and how ill-advised giving the speech was. i'm never going to defend that. but i will say this: they are looking to tell one side of the story. can you imagine if the impeachment a after the ukraine call was what democrats wanted to get out. it didn't mean what they were saying was incat, but there was no pushback from collins and others to say, listen, there's another side. for example, if i talk for 6 hours and you want is minute,

are you going to use that to tell your side of the story? did anyone ever hear trump say, i lost, and it's too bad i have to go to mar-a-lago? you know all these people around him, you didn't -- you only see the time in which there trump was unhinged and he was irate, but there were other times in other books that have been written that were anti-trump that talked about him being resigned and understanding that he lost the election. having said that, is that even part of this narrative on january 6th? that's what makes it so unbelievable. you're watching the hard harlem globetrotters play the washington generals every day. i know the outcome. howard: well, the former president may have initially been resigned but, obviously, he continues to push almost every day the narrative that the election was stolen. laura, how important -- before we move on to another topic, how important is roger stone video? because although he cooperated with the filmmakers and got all this play on the other two cable

news networks, fox news didn't cover it at all. >> brian's not redefending roger stone for a reason. no one is defending roger stone, and no one is defending president trump on the airwaves. republicans are running away from this. >> oh, there would be. i mean, jim -- >> oh, where are they? where are the conversations? where are the -- >> why would they go, why would hay -- >> why are you the only one, brian? i mean, i think there's a reaso- >> i'm not defending trump. i'm not. >> -- january 6th is challenging, and it is a dark day in american history. and it's one that we cannot repeat. and so to say that there's two sides to january 6th, i think, is missing the point. howard: all right, let me jump in here because i want to turn to maggie haberman's forthcoming book, confidence man, about trump. ironically, "the new york times" reporter's book was obtained by "the washington post" which got many of the the scoops. in the story -- in the book, i should say, it's reported that trump asked his then-chief of staff john kelly to fire ivanka

trump and jared kushner, then was going to announce their departure by tweet, but the general said that trump had to talk to them first and ultimately, of course, it didn't happen. trump denies this but, brian, this is part of the news of the book. >> so what i did, howie, when i saw what you wanted to talk about, i talked to someone extremely high up to the situation. obviously, kelly is the source of this story, and they went on to tell me that kelly never understood trump period. he's a guy who wanted to take the hill, go take the hill. he didn't understand the shades of trump and the way he went about things. for example, if there was a horrific thing, there was a rocket sent over the top of south korea. he would get his people in, he'd go should we just bomb 'em? should we just forget about it? should we just ignore it? he said there's no way that this would, this was remotely true, number one. number two is there's no way he

remotely meant it. and if you understand what was going on at time, do you remember they talk about jared kushner and ivanka, do you remember that they took away his security clearance? if you just read the 500-page book he put out, he says in that book that trump says if you have to leave, if this is getting too much, i will not be mad at you. he was somebody that they had access to the president. he had, they had mutual trust with each other because they knew when they would talk to each other, there would be no local -- leaks. so to think that he would do this by tweet is illogical and also shows as much as i'm in awe to of general kelly's service, never understood trump. howard: well, i don't doubt that it's hard to fire your daughter and son-in-law, and i don't doubt that kelly was the source. that's the version, i guess, that he gave to maggie. laura, trump at various times during his presidency would get mad at maggie haberman, but he

granted her three lengthy interviews for book, and when asked whether he would do it all again knowing what he knows now, his response was i have so many rich friends, and nobody knows who they are. and that drew a lot of attention because it seemed to the to suggest that he was interested in the fame of the presidency. >> well, i mean, that's like calling the pope catholic and the sky blue. i think we all all knew that. we've all been in trump's head -- howard: maybe he's been in all of our heads. maybe he's been in all of our heads in the media. >> well, i think that's true too, howie. and i will say this, i don't know if i would respond by saying what brian said which wasst not true or he didn't mean it. i actually think trump's pretty direct, and i think, you know, john kelly understands trump being direct. >> no, he didn't. >> and every time he wants to dance, he says it's not true or i didn't mean it. i think we have to filter our interpretation through that lens. that's what trump always says after he, something comes out that he doesn't like.

howard: all right. in fairness to the former president, in a subsequent interview he did talk about his accomplishments during the presidency, so i wanted to get that in. let me get a break. when we come back, why are the media playing down or ignoring that embarrassing moment when the president tried to recognize a dead congresswoman? ♪ ♪ new astepro allergy. now available without a prescription. astepro is the first and only 24-hour steroid free spray. while other allergy sprays take hours astepro starts working in 30 minutes. so you can... astepro and go. ♪ well the sun is shining and the grass is green ♪ ♪ i'm way ahead of schedule with my trusty team ♪ ♪ there's heather on the hedges ♪

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howard: it was, unfortunately, a cringe-worthy moment when president biden at a white house conference was giving a shout-out to congressman jackie walorski. >> where's jackie? i think she was going to be here. howard: unfortunately, congresswoman was killed in a car accident in august. brian, did coverage of this unfortunate mistake involving the late congresswoman give

fodder to critics who say that joe biden is in cognitive decline? >> yes. think no question about it. as i mentioned last night on "one nation," there's a few theories there. number one, he jewel -- eulogized her, she play played a role in this legislation. i think it was in his copy. if you think he's going through mike braun, booker and then he gets to her name, and someone put it in the copy. if that's, indeed, the case, mid goodness, don't worry about the speech writer. just say it was the president, he had a lot on his mind with this hurricane hitting, but you don't keep remeeting over and over again when they finally got to this in the press room because no one covered it even mt. pool report, when the precedent saying did he not know she was dead, was he actually looking for a dead person in the room, if it was indeed true the speech writer put it in there, say it. bad on our part. howard: okay. >> we put that in the copy, and the president got thrown.

but the fact it is not a big deal when trump walked slowly down a ramp, they said this guy's shot, he's in bad shape. we heard about the 25th amendment nonstop with administration, with the trump administration. this guy has made some egregious moves where you don't say i'm laughing or i'm mocking, you get concerned. i'm watching that, i am concerned for the country. howard: let me jump many here. by the way, msnbc, completely ignored it. cnn, completely ignored it on the air, did run a couple of online articles. and i think, laura, what made this worse was when karine jean-pierre, the press secretary, said, well, this was just top of mind for him, and that's why he did it, as opposed to, hey, he forgot and apologized if that's what happened because n the possess secretary's explanation. the presst day behind the podium, and i think everybody has a tough guy --

howard: diplomatically put. >> you should handle it directly. and frankly, you know, joe biden makes gaffes. he's made gaffes since he was a young man, and this is one of those gaffes. i think the context, acknowledging someone, a congresswoman who was, in fact, deeply critical of him for her work on rural nutrition and access to food in rural areas is something that it's also because people admire in that about a joe biden, the fact that he is willing to acknowledge and -- >> what? how did he not know she was dead? how could he have meant that he was saluting her if he didn't know if she was alive or dead? >> i think he acknowledged her, and i think that's important. i also did see coverage on all the major new york stock exchanger. i saw karine jean-pierre getting grilled, which is as it should be -- howard: okay, hold on -- >> -- it's overblown. i can't turn on the news without having someone opining about biden's mental state, so i don't think this is not getting covered. howard: this is not top of the

head thing. we checked, and there was no mention of this on msnbc, and there was no mention of this on the air on cnn. imagine if it had been donald trump doing that shout-out. >> -- on nbc or cbs or abc? i think it was covered on all three. howard: i have no information on that, so i'll defer to you. hurricane ian, obviously, got nonstop coverage for days, and how important is it, brian, for both ron desantis and joe biden who have had several calls together and made a point of saying they're working together to be in front of the cameras being seen as on top of a potentially deadly situation? >> so it works for both of them, it works for the country. i mean, really i just think that when they're talking to each other, you need fema, what do you need, you need highwater vehicles, what do you need in terms of reconstruction, army corps of engineers, answer yes, no, come down, appear together.

love it. absolutely love it. what i just couldn't believe is that everyone's using this hurricane to to jam climate change down everyone's appropriate as if hurricanes didn't happen before we had the combustion engine. there's not a counterargument to it. these people are struggling for their lives, and you're spending 45 minutes of an hour show to on another network talking about climate change and the need to go to electric cars which aren't ready yet -- howard: we will get to that. >> it's leadership, i want them together. howard: we will get to that later in the program. a reporter asked president biden what was tone of your call since you disagree politically, and the president said that was irrelevant. george w. bush's reputation the took a hit when he flew over new orleans after katrina hit in air force one. these can be make or break moments for politicians both at the national and skate level. >> and i think -- i agree with that, and i think ron desantis is making the case better than anyone could of the need for federal funding and the need to have unity between red states

and blue states by, with his hand out and contrary to his position with hurricane sandy where he admonished governor chris christie for taking federal funds, said the checkbook cannot be opened, and here he is desperately in need of federal funds and as it should be. he's making the case better than biden ever could, that the the federal government is in good hafnltdz there's a tension between needing to take care of his state and his political goals which are, of course, to eviscerate biden -- howard: brian, just briefly -- [inaudible conversations] >> real quick, there's a reason why he was pushing back against that aid. you realize why he was pushing back against that, because nancy pelosi and company were jamming all types of things, and maybe some republicans, into that sandy aid. i was in the middle of it, i had 3 foot of water in my house, i talked to people on the air that lived it on the ground. so i would say this, they were jamming things that a had nothing to do with sandy in there, and they said what is going on here?

i can't just green light all types of spending that you couldn't pass legislatively. and just look for that too. howard: bat that go -- gotta go, folks. sorry to hear you had 3 feet of water in your house, that can't be fun. brian kilmeade, laura fink, thanks very much. up next, how did the media get drawn into saying hurricane ian could have caused hundreds of casualties in florida? and later, a look at the coverage of the midterms. ♪ ♪

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please call or go to pvahero.org your monthly gift of any amount will help our paralyzed heroes. howard: amid the devastation that hurricane ian caused across florida, the tone of the coverage changed when sheriff carmine mar see know of's lee county, the more suburban area where the storm made landfall -- >> i definitely know the fatalities are in the hundreds. howard: a number of anchors and correspondents went with this sheer speculation, sometimes attributing it to the sheriff.

>> we are hearing from the lee county sheriff in the fort myers, florida, area saying just moments ago that casualties could be in the hundreds. >> and we have a few reports of some fatalities. howard: but it wasn't long before the sheriff backed off. >> one of the officials in this area, lee county, said there could be hundreds of deaths. well, he toned that down, certainly, and clarified it and said, you know with, there were thousands of calls last night of people in need, needed to be rescued. >> i just saw a report that the sheriff's office is reporting that the deaths could be well over 100. >> the lee county sheriff. i think we need to be careful with that, because i do believe the sheriff may have clarified that report. howard: joining us now from dallas, steve krakauer, who writes the fourth watch muse letter on the media. steve, should the media have acted as a megaphone for the sheriff because he clearly didn't have the goods. he was making up what he expected to happen.

>> yeah. it's really tough, i think, when journalism is the hardest, it's more important to really stick to principles, right? you're in a fast-moving story, it is, you're watching the devastation and there are, obviously, the death toll has been rising in florida. but, no, in those moments hay really need to avoid speculation, make sure -- even if it's the guests, they couch that to the audience and say this is not confirmed, we're not running with in the. it's even more important in those moments to not start wildly speculating and making people freak out even more than they might with what actually happened. howard: the death toll in florida now estimated to be 44. i'm sure that will rise, but at the same time, the hundreds business and even, he said it's unconfirmed, really kind of changed the news cycle. one of the reasons is the storm missed tampa where everybody was forecasting it would hit. tampa, with st. petersburg, has a population of 650,000.

fort myers in lee county has a population of 83,000. if it had hit tampa, there probably would have been hundreds or thousands of casual a cities. let me move on to this question of climate change. obviously, it's come up with the more devastating storm is ises -- storms we're seeing, and here is don lemon raising the question with a guest from fema. >> it seems these storms are intensifying. >> on the whole, climate change may be making storms worse, but to link it to any one event, i would caution against that. >> okay. well, listen, i grew up there, and these storms are intensifying. something is causing them to intensify. howard: i might just say hundreds -- i meant to say hundreds of casualties earlier, not the higher number. so scientists say it's complicated. what do you make that don lemon sound bite on cnn got a lot of attention, or is he, are others, are both sides politicizing this question of climate change and hurricane ian?

>> always. you know, don lemon lived there in florida, so he's now -- it's okay for him to start changing the story to climate change. it makes absolutely no sense. don lemon seems to be milking the final week of his time in prime time before he's demoted to the morning. i think this is what we see, frankly, with pretty much any story that touches whether anything even beyond weather, talk about food, talk about any story, and there's a sellingment of -- segment of the media which wants to bring the story back to climate change even if it doesn't make sense. there's -- i've heard there's a time and a place to have a conversation about whether climate change is intensifying storms, and perhaps that is the case, you know? let's step back. when it's not in the middle of trying to warn people about what might be coming to tampa and to the florida coast, let's have that conversation in a real smart, actually honest way. but, no, in that moment when they're trying to get information to the people of florida, don lemon jumps in, like he does on pretty much every topic, and makes it into a

story that is unnecessarily politicized on a topic that he clearly doesn't know anything about even if he, i guess, lived in florida at one point. howard: if you live in florida, you're an expert, i guess. politicization goes both ways. people being rescued, a lot of journalists were saying climate change, climate change. on the other hand, those attacking them were doing that but also for the other side. and scientists say you can't tie it to any individual storm, but here's what we know: waters are getting warmer, that feeds hurricanes, and the number of cat four and cat five hurricanes in the last 20 years in the u.s. about matches the number in the previous 40 years. but again, that doesn't mean that climate change is the sole source or, obviously, there were powerful hurricanes in the past before the movement against global warming. steve, stick around. next on "mediabuzz," why television kept replaying pictures from the worst day of hurricane ian days after the storm moved on. and, by the way, should reporters be standing outside

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don't hesitate. ask your doctor about otezla today. ♪ howard: some correspondents insist cyst on standing in the middle of even the most dangerous hurricanes. as we sere here with nbc's carrie sanders and especially the weather channel's jim cantore, that can be pretty risky. >> so there's the wind speed as i'm standing next to a building which is somewhat protected, so i'm -- i'll take a knee. whoops, if i can take a knee here. [background sounds] just listen to the storm for a second. if. >> oh! howard: joining us now in cape coral, florida, fox news

correspondent alexandria hoff. phil keating and steve krakauer is still with us. steve, let me start with you, standing out there in that incredible winds and rain, is that dumb and reckless as a media eye columnist put it? [laughter] >> i would not go that far, no. i think that there is, there's -- we've seen that, you know, this kind of coverage whether it's through natural disasters, through wars, it can sort of verge into dangerous territory and maybe too showy, but i would definitely err on side of showing and not telling. i want reporters to bear witness, to be able to give the audience what's really happening on the ground. and the only way you can do that is by being in it, by not -- by avoiding couch potato journalism. sure, you know, if it goes, verges into a little bit over the top, yeah, i would probably pull back on that, but i'm so glad that we have brave correspondents that go down to

these disaster areas and show the audience in ways they could never do if they just sat in the studio and tried to explain it on tv. howard: on the other hand, jim is luckily key that plying branch didn't hit him at a different angle or he might have sustained serious injury. alex, in the social media age it's not just correspondents getting drenched who can provide this anymore. for example, number one, fox played a video of a woman who was describing her grandmother's house which was ruined by water and then goes on to say this, let's watch. >> that's our pool. that's our deck. that, that was my house. pleasure my house is gone. howard: my house is gone. so, alex, 15 years ago you couldn't get that sort of thing but now, you know, thousands, millions of people post video online are. it was one of a shark swimming through one of the storm surges there. your thoughts.

>> reporter: yeah. well, the shark thing seems to pop up after every major storm. i think social media, where we've seen the benefit here where we are is where the lines of communication, for some reason, people have not been able to get cell service or have been able to perhaps post on twitter. of it's at least a sign of proof of life for where we are now. we're talking to a woman off of pine island over this waterway, and she was able to communicate with her family over facebook. so there is a, there is a good side to this. but to people standing out in the weather, i think that part of our job is, indeed, to go places people can't go or maybe don't have easy access or to don't want to, so we have to showcase the risks. we don't want to sensationalize though, howie. howard: phil keating, you're based in florida. have you everred stood out in a hurricane, and if you did, did you question the wisdom of getting soaked? >> the miami crew's been in more than 30 hurricanes at point.

we cover every single one of them. you certainly wouldn't want to have been standing here where i am because the storm surge was 12-15 feet above the ground -- howard: good point. >> reporter: that's way above my head, and that's why all those boats are pushed onto the land. we're all in agreement of when it's too dangerous, like, we wouldn't have been on one of the barrier islands, we would have probably gone inland. but it is what we do, you know, you're going to be wet and blown around all day. it's not exactly fun, but we think it's important. howard: it is what you do, certainly, in florida this time of year. steve krakauer, here's what drove me crazies which is we're going to show you footage, you won't be able to see it, on thursday, the day after ian struck. the pictures weren't that exciting, and the waters had receded, so all the networks kept replaying video from the day before sometimes labeled, sometimes not as a way of keeping viewers hooked. and this also happened friday, and this also happened yesterday

almost as if there's a concern that people might tune out if they're not seeing the worst video. >> yeah, i would say this is a bigger problem than the first one, for sure. you know, this is a sense where we want to get people interested in the story when it's important. we want to give, to bring people story as it's happening, you know, in realtime. then you start to go do the second day's story, the third day's story and you still want people interested because there is, obviously, the search and rescues happening, but how do you keep people hooked. and the decisions being made, you know, in d.c. and new york newsrooms to keep that, the attention, keep the viewer hooked, that's when it starts verging into what kind of b with roll are we going to use, the most sensationalized way to do it, that's when you get a lot of that -- howard: yeah, it becomes just wallpaper, not just let's look at what happened on wednesday. phil keating, there was fascinating foot an on thursday of people being rescued from cars or from houses filled with

water. but, again, these were individual cases and perhaps producers think it's not as sexy as 150 mile-an-hour winds and raging waters. >> reporter: well, and in that case you've got both. you've got raging waters and winds, and then after that when all of the 15-20 inches of rain fell, people were driving through too deep of water, and that's another benefit of having the news crews covering the storm. we get the word out ahead of time don't be driving through water. you don't know how deep it is and then you end up either dying or getting rescues if you're lucky. howard: yeah. alex, as we put up number four, the devastation in fort myers, fort myers beach, was so awful -- we see the aerial shot here -- so many, and so heartbreaking. so many boats flattened, areas flattened, houses ruined that i have no problem with replaying that because it hasn't changed.

but it's one small part of florida where ian made landfall, not necessarily representative of the whole state. >> reporter: you're exactly right. but i think the warning through these photos can be issued through those images. men the of -- concern plenty of the people we talked to out here, largely in mobile homes, thought, hey, we've had storms before, i can deal with it again. i am of the belief that replaying those images in context, making sure you know people -- people know what day it was, can offer education for future storms. if the replaying of images is used in a lazy way where you're trying to get more stories which there are still plenty, hen it's an issue. howard: "the new york times" reported that lee county officials delayed in issuing an evacuation because everybody thought the storm was going to hit tampa. that turned out to be a horrible

decision and, you know, i don't want to minimize in any way devastation of houses, the suffering by people and, of course, it will cost tens of billions, maybe $100 billion to rebuild florida, but i did want to get that perspective from those of you to who have been in the eye of the storm. thank you all, steve krakauer, alexandria hoff and phil keating standing on that beach where are, you know, it just was the epicenter of the hurricane which, thankfully, has now dissipated. after the break, all that media talk about a democratic comeback in the midterms may be off the mark and is starting to fade. that's next. ♪ ♪ as condé nast traveler. but it is now time for us to work even harder, searching for meaningful experiences and new adventures for you to embark upon. they say when you reach the top, there's only one way to go. we say, that way is onwards.

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♪ yes this is how, this is how we work now. ♪ howard: the media's message is unmistakeable. many of the ultra-conservative candidates who won their nominations with donald trump's backing are in deep trouble, but what if that's wrong? the latest fox news follow on the senate race in arizona, blake masters after winning the nomination with trump's support is 5 points behind democrat mark kelly, hardly an insurmountable margin. and in the arizona's governor's race, kari lake trailed by a single point, a that atist call tie. joining us now, mike emmanuel, fox's chief washington correspondent. and, mike, washington post is looking at a bunch of polls ask and says in most cases the trump-aligned candidates that observers have pegged as being potential liabilities in those

states look exactly like that. i love the observers part because this is what we think -- >> right. howard: -- but that's the media cop census, these people are mostly in deep trouble. >> i think some of them are going to get through, i really do. and democrats are going to have to looked in the mere your -- mirror, because they funded a lot of these candidates -- howard: right, they wanted these people to get the nomination. >> they're unelectable, until they get elected, and all of a sudden you're going to be complaining we can't get anything done because we've got these very, very conservative candidates now in office. they are votes -- howard: yeah. it's doubly important because patrol of the -- control of the senate thingses by one seat or two at most. political winds may be shifting back in the republicans' direction. for the first time, google searches for the economy and immigration have overtaken searches about abortion as well as searches for democracy or january 6th. so immigration, economy, those

obviously favor the gop. >> yeah. and i think we're all wise to be somewhat skeptical about some of these numbers because i know a lot of folks who say, like, anybody calls me and asks me my political views, i wouldn't answer to phone, i wouldn't tell them the truth. so, you know, i think as journalists we have a healthy sense of skepticism, and so i'm not exactly sure how these numbers are going to play out. howard: we also have adhd, we're constantly saying, okay, this is where it's going to go in the midterms. but polls are snapshots, at best. and at the same time, you've got to think that, you know, five weeks til the midterm elections, that's a lifetime in politics. look, sometimes the conventional wisdom is true. for example, republican doug mastriano who chartered buses to the january 6th -- 6th rally and says he'll ban abortions without exceptions, he held a rally that crew about a couple -- drew a couple dozen people half of them

were solen toon tiers. now he says he's devoting time to fasting and he seems to be imploding. >> yeah. and then there's questions about the senate race there. john fetterman hasn't been able to campaign much after having a stroke back in may, and hen you've got dr. oz and critics saying he's actually a jersey guy, not a pennsylvania guy. but the numbers seem to be tightening there. we'll see what happens with. i think voters know that these are critical seats, and so the balance of power right now is 50-50. each seat counts, and so i think people are hiking long and hard about what they're going to do with their vote. howard: yeah. dr. oz had a lot of stumbles and self-inflicted wounds. on the other hand, i think it's, like, a 5-point race at this point. and people forget, you know, there's always a faction that breaks at the end -- >> sure. howard: the democrats control everything in washington, so there's that. now, you talked about the polls. i think it may be even worse than that. hanging over this whole thing, and nate cohen in the times, to his credit, has given this

credence, that the polls may be off because they overstated democratic support in 2016 in certain areas, in 2020 in certain areas, and nothing has been fixed. there hasn't been any great change. it may well be that there's a problem with the sample or it's wish casting, whatever. but, you know, we live and die by these polls, we're addicted to polls. but they may just say democrats are poised to do better than they actually are. >> yeah. and at one point we were talking red wave. i didn't buy that because with redistricting, a lot of these seats are not that competitive in the house. and then at some point it was like, oh, here come the democrats, they're coming back. comeback kids, look out. howard: yeah. >> abortion could be the key issue. but there are a lot of pocketbook issues people may be considering as they consider their vote. ing so i think the truth may be somewhere in between with, and we'll be writing about it and talking about it for months. howard: well, abortion rights remain a factor, surely -- >> sure. howard: -- and there's a trump factor.

the more the press talks about trump, the more it takes republicans off their game. just briefly. >> a lot of republicans saying if we're talking about mar-a-lago documents, we're not talking about pocketbook issues, so they think that's a losing effort. howard: frankly, they want it to be a referendum on joe biden. >> indeed. howard: he is the president, and he's also starting to attack maga republicans. mike, good to see you, as always. still to come, trevor noah bailing on the daily show, katie couric releasing a serious medical diagnosis and donald trump now trashing magengy -- trump now trashing magengy -- maggie haberman. stay with us. until now. kisqali is helping women live longer than ever before when taken with an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant... in hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer. kisqali is a pill that's proven to delay disease progression. kisqali can cause lung problems, or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death.

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howard: trevor noah, who never came close to filling jon stewart's shoes after taking over the daily show, is quitting. >> i i realize that after the

seven years, my time is up. i -- [inaudible conversations] yeah. but in, in the most beautiful way, honestly. i, i've loved hosting the show. it's been one of my greatest challenges. howard: noah, who's a smart guy, never quite got the show. the south african comedian has admitted his firsts two years were miserable, and his ratings were pretty low. in my view, the show became stale and predictable, and noah didn't really take anyone on. he was no jon stewart whose correspondents became big stars themselves. now comedy central has to find another host to reare strive the franchise. katie couric became a crusader against cancer which claimed the life of her first husband back in 1998, and she famously had an on-air colonoscopy on the today show. she just announced that she was diagnosed with breast cancer. in classic katie fashion, i've

known her a long time, she decided to document it as a teachable moment. she chose to get a lumpectomy followed by radiation and medication. she's just fortuned radiation, said she's feeling fine. her parting message, please get your annual mammogram. i was six months late time. good for her. a bit more on the maggie haberman book, "the new york times" reporter said president trump wanted to identify her sources, but nothing ever came of it. meanwhile, trump granted three lengthy book interviews and told two aides he loved talking to maag maggie because she's like my psychiatrist. but now trump says on truth social, another fake book out, this one supposedly very boring and stale. my self-appointed head case maggie haberman. in it she tells made-up stories with zero fact checking or confirmation by anyone who would know, like me. he denies having wanted -- to

fire jared and ivanka, zero fact checking, what were those interviews? haberman's now posted some last minute questions she sent the former president with his handwritten responses such as false story and may be some truth in that. the media weren't buying the nfl's passive response involving miami dolphins' quarterback tieu what tag ve low what who was allowed to return to a game last sunday and appeared to play in thursday night's game where she suffer -- he suffered a concussion. removing the neurologist who cleared the toll fence' player who returned last sunday and now the nfl says it will tighten the concussion rules that allowed this to happen. this was a disgrace. by the way, want to pay tribute to bill plant, the longtime cbs white house correspondent who died this week. he was not only a tremendous

reporter and an amazingly nice guy, but he had that booming voice. that's it for this petition of "mediabuzz." of i'm howard kurtz, subscribe to my podcast, media buzzmeter. we're out of time. just time to tell you we're back here next sunday, 11 eastern, with the only media analysis show on national television. ♪ ♪

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for a paralyzed veteran today. eric: cleanup and recovery from hurricane ian underway in hard-hit southwest florida where the magnitude of the destruction is becoming so apparent. more than 50 people so far confirmed dead in florida, north carolina and cuba. many sadly drowning and ian's devastating and historic storm surge cost residence who find themselves homeless look forward the future. hello, everyone, welcome to fox news live, i'm eric shawn. hi, arthel. arthel: hi, eric, hello, everyone i'm